Dissolving Boundaries: A Study of Nitoo Das’s Poem Mawphlang https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.12671129

Dissolving Boundaries: A Study of Nitoo Das’s Poem Mawphlang

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.12671129

Author(s): Sandhani Dutta

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.12671129

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The Criterion: An International Journal in English Vol. 15, Issue-III, June 2024 ISSN: 0976-8165
www.the-criterion.com
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10448030
Dissolving Boundaries: A Study of Nitoo Das’s Poem Mawphlang
Sandhani Dutta
Asst. Professor,
Dept of English,
L. G. B. Girls’ College, Tezpur, Assam.
Article History: Submitted-21/05/2024, Revised-20/06/2024, Accepted-27/06/2024, Published-30/06/2024.
Abstract:
Vera Norwood notes that men’s and women’s experiences with nature are different.
According to her, women write wilderness differently, unlike men, whose experience is
patterned after the traditional hero’s journey, which involves a series of challenges, a display of
virility, and the eventual dominance of men over the environment. Women‘s experiences, on the
other hand, according to her, involve an immersion in nature rather than confrontation. This
paper aims to explore this organic relationship between women and nature, thereby debunking
the male/female nature/culture binaries through the theoretical framework of Cyborg. This paper
particularly focuses on the poem ‘Mawphlong’ by Nitoo Das, where nature and women are not
seen as separate entities but as Cyborgs or hybrid beings creating new identities, beings, and
emotional geographies. Cyborg is an emancipatory model of identity because it brings in the
concept of fluidity, and the disappearance of body, and situates itself outside the power structures
and hierarchies of patriarchal discourse.
Keywords: women, nature, cyborg, identity, emotional geographies.
Introduction:
The traditional concept of women and nature as separate and passive entities has long
been problematic, as it only perpetuates gender biasedness and environmental degradation. Dona
Haraway’s ‘Cyborg’ is a powerful theoretical framework that challenges these boundaries and
creates new identities and entities. It addresses fluidity, hybridity, and the postmodern nature of
Cyborgs and encourages the emergence of new identities and beings, especially in the realm of
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Dissolving Boundaries: A Study of Nitoo Das’s Poem Mawphlang
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https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10448030
feminism. It provides a fluid and transformative framework for opening up a world unmarked by
binaries, providing us with new alternatives and possibilities for redefining nature, feminine
identity, its relation with nature, and its embodiment in the postmodern era.
While ecofeminism seeks to strengthen the bonds between women and nature by
critiquing their parallel oppressions and encouraging an ethic of caring and a politics of
solidarity, Haraway seeks to destabilize the nature/culture dualism that grounds the oppression of
both women and nature. Ecofeminism, like other cultural feminisms, advances female values, but
much of Haraway’s work engages nature from a postmodern feminist perspective exemplified by
the figure of the cyborg. Although ecofeminism espouses a ‘pronature’ stance, Haraway’s
theories of ‘artifactualism’ and the ‘cyborg break down the divisions between nature and culture,
nature and technology’, thereby destabilizing the entire concept of ‘nature’. Stacy Alaimo is of
the view that ecofeminist glorifications of nature and women play into the pockets of both
patriarchy and capitalism. Cyborgs, on the other hand, forsake alliances between women and
nature, creating new identities and opening up new emotional geographies.
In her article, Cyborg and Ecofeminist Interventions: Challenges for an Environmental
Feminism, Stacy Alaimo states:
“The ecofeminist strategy of glorifying nature promotes a more respectful attitude and
encourages a less exploitive relationship with the earth; however, it often falls into mysticism,
widening the great divide between nature and culture.”
The attempts of the ecofeminists to valorize women and nature via glorification and
mystification may only bind them more securely to narratives of phallic domination. The dangers
of ecofeminism seem to result from a positive alliance that depends upon the very associations
that are detrimental to both women and the earth—woman, and nature as victims, women as
maternal, and nature as mystified and pure. Haraway disrupts this narrative by casting nature as
an active agent and not an ahistorical, passive resource for human domination. By refiguring
nature as an agent, Dona Haraway’s Cyborg destabilizes the categories of active and passive,
resource and user, casting nature as an actor on the historical stage. Instead of grounding
ecofeminist politics in affinities of victimization or motherhood, Cyborg emphasizes and focuses
on women and nature by stressing nature as an actor. By articulating both women and nature as
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https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10448030
agents in a mutual struggle instead of passive victims, Cyborg destabilizes, deconstructs, and
disrupts all these associations, boundaries, and structures between them, showing that all
identities are lived and experienced and is unstable and fluid.
In Donna Haraway’s Manifesto for Cyborgs: Science, Technology, and Socialist
Feminism in the 1980s, she states that the ‘utopian cyborg’ allows us to think of ourselves in
ways that subvert the dualisms of domination.
“Certain dualisms have been persistent in Western traditions; they have all been systemic to the
logics and practices of domination of women, people of color, nature, workers, animals—in
short, domination of all constituted as others, whose task is to mirror the self. Chief among these
troubling dualisms are self/other, mind/body, culture/nature, male/female, civilized/primitive,
reality/appearance, whole/part, agent/resource, maker/made, active/passive, right/wrong,
truth/illusion, total/partial, God/man.”
Since cyborgs complicate these binaries, therefore it does not play into misogynist
discourse the way that blurring between women and nature does. Haraway’s theory of cyborgs
shows nature as something made, not something existing ‘out there’ in some pure form.
According to her, nature is made ‘but not entirely by humans; it is a co-construction among
humans and non-humans.’
The North East of India is home to several ethnic tribal societies that are deeply
concerned with ecological concerns and environmental degradation. For the indigenous
communities of north-east India, preservation of nature/ecology is not just a way of life; it is
their identity. The female poets of this region, like Mamang Dai, Temsula Ao, Easterine Kire,
and Nitoo Das, in their writings portray nature as an extension of themselves, and their bodies.
This paper reflects on Nitoo Das’s poem ‘Mawphlang’ which takes the reader on a journey that
begins in a physical locale but transports them to an inward one. In most of her poems, the
female persona connects to nature/the cosmos through her body, with which she experiences her
‘self’, thereby articulating a new idiom, a new language by, for, and about women. Most of her
poems re-invoke deep connections between women and nature, where the female self, the ‘body,
and the ‘desires’ are celebrated. The female persona in her poems symbolizes the Cyborgian
being. She is a hybrid being—one who hovers around the fringes. She participates, through her
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body, in celebrating the smells, sights, and sounds of nature and speaks of a relationship with
nature that is intimate, built on trust, reciprocity, solidarity, respect, and care.
The present paper focuses on reading Nitoo Das’s poem Mawphlang through the cyborg
framework, where she describes this organic relationship between women and nature. The sacred
grove of Mawphlang (in Meghalaya) is described by her in the beginning as an ‘old woman
opening her mouth. She has nothing to reveal.’ Thus, the representation of the forest as an old
woman in the opening lines of the poem creates an aura of mystery and intrigue. The complexity
and enigmatic nature of the forest is further emphasized in the words ‘ she has nothing to reveal’,
where the forest is shown as concealing its mysteries and secrets that it keeps only to itself. The
forest, she says, ‘resides between twig and soil’, through which she wants to imply that the forest
is a complex web of interconnected elements of humans and non-humans co-existing together. It
is a reflection of how nature is beyond human comprehension, and many aspects of it remain
unexplained and are shrouded in mystery.
These sacred groves are timeless, and they defy trespassers who pluck or take anything
from the forests. They have lived for an eternity. The ageless trees of the forests have silently
witnessed the rush of human speed and changes to the environment. Hence, any invasion of
humans into their territory will not be permitted. The phrase ‘Your stealth will bring death ‘
highlights how the intrusion of human beings only leads to the destruction of the natural
environment. Human beings destroy the sanctity and intrinsic value of nature. The phrase ‘bring
death’ suggests the severity of the impact of human interference, and hence they are forbidden to
be a part of the sacred groves of Mawphlang. This destruction is represented by Nitoo Das
through the powerful imagery of ‘a moth torn apart with frequent hands’. The ‘ moth’ represents
the delicate balance of nature, and the ‘frequent hands’ symbolizes the careless and reckless
behavior of humans towards the environment. This line is a reminder that every little thing in the
cosmos counts, every insect; and every animal has its purpose and role in the ecosystem. By
killing even the smallest of creatures, humans disrupt the balance of nature.
The Khasi people of Meghalaya are known for their deep connection with nature and
their ability to live in harmony with the natural environment around them. They see nature as a
nurturing mother who nourishes them. A famous Khasi proverb states, ‘U Khasi u im bad ka
mariang, bad ka mariang ka imbad u’, which means a Khasi lives with nature and nature lives
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with Khasi. They believe that there was a golden age, an age of purity where man and animals
lived in perfect harmony with each other, and they still retain these ancient beliefs and practices.
The existence of the sacred groves, the caves, the mountains, and the rivers all establish their
belief. They believe that every living being, including trees, plants, animals, and humans,
possesses a spirit and must be respected.
Sajal Nag, in his research article, ‘Ethnography of a Wilderness: The Eco-Politics of
Sacred Groves of the Khasi Jaintia People,’ gives anthropological details of the sacred groves
and how they were a part of nature worship. He writes The Khasis believe their guardian spirits
of U Ryngkew U Basa reside in the groves. For them, the sacred groves are a sort of divine
sanctuary, a paradise of the pristine glory of creation. Here, man lives in harmony with nature—
the flora and fauna and with the spirits themselves. According to the Khasi indigenous faith, in
these patches of wilderness known as the sacred groves, the spirits of Ryngkew and Basa were
sent to dwell on earth by God for a purpose. It was believed that when the earth was young, there
grew a gigantic tree with its branches spreading in all directions. As it continued growing, the
branches started reaching across larger and larger areas, and soon the sun was almost eclipsed
and the entire earth was covered in total darkness. Both humans and animals were seized with
fear as the entire earth was covered in total darkness, and it was finally decided that the tree had
to be cut down. Soon humans flocked in great numbers and went to the mountain range of
Diengiei with their axes to chop down the tree. But as the tree trunk was massive, they couldn’t
cut it down in one day. They left the place with the plan to return and resume the task, only to
find the tree, completely restored the next day. The people determined to bring the tree down
once again started cutting and swearing to finish the work the following day. On returning the
next day, they discovered to their dismay that the tree was whole again. Phreit, a bird perched on
a nearby bush, warned them that it knew the secret of the tree’s regeneration and said that it
would reveal the secret only if it was permitted to feast from ripened paddy fields for generations
to come. The phreit disclosed that when the people go back home, a tiger used to come and lick
the wounded portions of the tree trunk, and thus, the Diengiei would heal itself. The bird then
advised the people to tie their axes and machetes to the tree trunk all around so that when the
tiger came to lick the wounds and notches, it would cut its tongue and abandon its mission. As
predicted, the tiger, after hurting itself, ran away in the darkness of night, and the following day,
the tree fell. God was offended by the actions of the humans, as the tree was supposed to
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symbolize a close relationship between God and man, and this destructive action severed all
connections between the creator and creature. The felling of the Diengiei tree brought in a long
period of calamity and deprivation. There was discord between animals and humans and
turbulence on the earth. The earth, including all its inhabitants, asked for God’s mercy and, as
signs of atonement, forswore the use of axes and machetes on trees and plants unless necessary.
God looked on kindly at this gesture and resolved to send the Ryngkew and the Basa, his
representatives, to live in the law kyntang, or sacred forests. Such myths and popular beliefs not
only showcase their ecological and rich sociological significance but also reflect the deep
ideological moorings of Khasi beliefs and values. Myths not only shed light on the past but are
also repositories of indigenous wisdom and values. For the Khasis, their lifestyle, livelihood,
beliefs, and identity as a tribe bear the imprints of their landscape.
In her book, The Chalice and the Blade, Riane Eisler re-examines our prehistoric societal
cultural origins and shows that for the longest part of our prehistory, cultures were based on a
partnership model, where the relationship between the sexes was an egalitarian one. However,
these cultures were matrix, focusing on life-giving and nurturing relationships. She writes:
“Prehistoric societies worshipped the Goddess of nature and spirituality, our great mother, the
giver of life and creator of us all. But even more fascinating is that these ancient societies were
structured very much like the more peaceful and just society we are now trying to construct. In
short, they were societies that had what we today call an ecological consciousness: the
awareness that the earth must be treated with reverence and respect. And this reverence for the
life-giving and life-sustaining power of the earth was rooted in a social structure where women
and ‘feminine’ values such as caring, compassion, and non-violence were not subordinate to men
and the so-called masculine values of conquest and dominance. Rather, the life-giving powers
incarnated in women’s bodies were given the highest social value.”
Charlene Spretnak states that women’s experiences of their bodies endow them with a
‘consciousness of a larger reality’ that bestows upon them the potential to reveal ‘nature’s
mysteries’. The female self, thus perceived, clearly embodies a different relation with nature, one
that is not characterized by rigid division and fear of loss of boundaries but rather by a
connectedness that induces a sense of harmony. She further states that the experiences inherent
to women’s sexuality express the “essential holistic nature of life on earth; they are ‘body
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parables’ of the profound oneness and interconnectedness of all matter/energy.” Such a bond
and attachment of women with nature not only leads to achieving gender equality but also
environmental preservation, leading to the creation of new emotional geographies.
In the poem Mawphlang, Nitoo Das foregrounds the experiences of both women and
nature. By describing the sacred groves as an old woman, a cyborg, Nitoo Das creates a fluid
being, a cyborg body, which is empowering for both women and nature, residing in a world that
celebrates fluidity and multiplicity. Michel Foucault’s theory of power and knowledge argues
that bodies are not neutral entities but are rather inscribed with meaning through societal norms
and power relations. Bodies are not only subject to disciplinary practices but also actively
participate in the construction of discourse. Both Susan Bordo and Foucault consider the ‘body
as not only a text of culture but as a practical, direct locus of social control’. Bordo examines
the cultural metaphors, norms, and values that have been imposed on the female body by
patriarchy and Western culture that mark and constitute the female body. Bodies, whether they
are of women or nature, are like texts, inscribed with meaning through structures of language and
signification by patriarchy. Haraway states that our understanding of nature or the way we
conceive of nature has far-reaching implications for our relationship with nature. According to
her, the time has come to envision and articulate a different relationship with nature, one that is
not based on Western philosophical thought. Western philosophical thought seeks to essentialize
and dualize nature. Nature is reduced to the status of an object, an instrument in the realization of
man’s self-obsessed desire to have nature under complete control.
Helene Cixous, in her groundbreaking essay ‘The Laugh of the Medusa’, claims that a
woman should write from her body: “Writing is for you; you are for you; your body is yours;
take it.” She advocates a form of writing grounded in a woman’s experience and body that is not
mediated by men and patriarchy. Female sexuality is multiple, diverse, and plural, and it cannot
be reduced to a male-centric model. She emphasizes the importance of recognizing the
importance of female bodies in their sexuality and the need for women to reclaim their bodies
outside patriarchal norms and expectations. The figure of the ‘cyborg’ creates an empowering
space for both women and nature that is emancipating and empowering. Nitoo Das seeks to
embrace this intimate bond between women and nature through a new language, a new narrative
that seeks to translate the emotions of both nature and woman—one that is not burdened with
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Western meanings and connotations. By employing the female body in her writing, she redefines
and rediscovers the identity and relationship of both women and nature that is equally powerful,
emancipating, and empowering. Instead of creating women and nature as passive entities, Nitoo
Das uses the motif of the body, through which both women and nature create an intimate space, a
bond dissolving all barriers and boundaries through which they participate, articulate, and
celebrate their fluid/new identities and bodies.
Works Cited:
Alaimo,S.“Cyborg and Ecofeminist Interventions: Challenges for an Environmental Feminism”.
Feminist Studies, 20 (1) 1994.133-152.Print.
Baral.Kailash,
2005.The
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Das. Nitoo. “Crowbite”.Red River. 2020.11.Print.
Haraway, D. “A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and Socialist Feminism in the Late
Twentieth Century”. Simians, Cyborgs and Women: The Reinvention of Nature. New York:
Routledge, 1991.149 – 181.Print.
Rianne. Eisler. “The Chalice and the Blade: Our History, Our Future”. Harper & Row. 1987.
Print.
Spretnak, C. “Toward an Ecofeminist Spirituality in Judith Plant (ed) Healing the Wounds”. New
Society Publishers: Philadelphia. 1989.129-138.Print.
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